A válság hatása a termelési tevékenységre (The impact of crisis on operations strategy and practices)

A tanulmány fő célja a gazdasági világválság termelésre gyakorolt hatásainak bemutatása volt a versenyképesség-kutatás adatainak elemzésével. Mivel a vállalatokra a válság különbözőképpen hat, ezért érintettségük alapján a szerzők három csoportba sorolták őket. Az irodalom felhasználásával megfogalmazták a termelési stratégiára és a termelés működési következményeire vonatkozó hipotéziseiket. Eredményeik alapján a válsággal leginkább érintett vállalatok rendelkeznek a legstabilabb termelési stratégiával és gyakorlattal. Ugyanakkor a válság következtében az ár és a szolgáltatások stratégiai szerepe minden vállalatnál erősödött, az innovációé viszont visszaesett. A válság egyik vállalatcsoportnál sem eredményezte a megmaradó munkaerő fejlesztésének ugrásszerű növekedését. A folyamatfejlesztés erősödése, illetve a globális irányba mozdulás csak a legkevésbé érintett csoportnál volt jellemző. ___________________ The objective of this article is to describe the impact of the world economic crisis on operations using the data of the competitiveness survey. Since the crisis affects companies differently, the authors classified them into three groups: the most affected, the moderately affected and the least affected group, accordingly. Relying on the literature they formed hypotheses about the impact of crisis on operations strategy and its everyday operational consequences. Based on the authors’ results the most affected companies have the most stable operations strategy and practices. Nevertheless, due to the crisis the importance of prices and services increased, while the importance of innovation decreased in each group. At the level of everyday practice the crisis has not led to extraordinary increase in work force development. Process improvement and turning to globalization became stronger only in the least affected group.

A válság hatása a termelési tevékenységre – több nézőpontú közelítés = The impact of crisis on operations strategy and practices

Műhelytanulmányunk fő célja a gazdasági világválság termelésre gyakorolt hatásainak bemutatása a versenyképesség kutatás adatainak elemzésével. Mivel a vállalatokra a válság különbözőképpen hat, ezért érintettségük alapján három csoportba soroltuk őket. Az irodalom felhasználásával megfogalmaztuk a termelési stratégiára és a termelés működési következményeire vonatkozó hipotéziseinket. Eredményeink alapján a válsággal leginkább érintett vállalatok rendelkeznek a legstabilabb termelési stratégiával és gyakorlattal. Ugyanakkor a válság következtében az ár és a szolgáltatások stratégiai szerepe minden vállalatnál erősödött, az innovációé viszont visszaesett. A gyakorlatok szintjén a válság egyik vállalatcsoportnál sem eredményezte a megmaradó munkaerő fejlesztésének ugrásszerű növekedését. A folyamatfejlesztés erősödése, illetve a globális irányba mozdulás csak a legkevésbé érintett csoportnál volt jellemző. Eredményeink alapján a válság általi érintettség és a termelési stratégia, illetve gyakorlat területén bekövetkezett hangsúlyeltolódások között nem nagyon van összefüggés. ________ The objective of this study is to describe the impact of the world economic crisis on operations using the data of the competitiveness survey. Since the crisis affects companies differently, we classified them into three groups: the most affected, the moderately affected and the least affected group, accordingly. Relying on the literature we formed hypotheses about the impact of crisis on operations strategy and its everyday operational consequences. Based on our results the most affected companies have the most stable operations strategy and practices. Nevertheless, due to the crisis the importance of prices and services increased, while the importance of innovation decreased in each group. At the level of everyday practice the crisis has not led to extraordinary increase in work force development. Process improvement and turning to globalization became stronger only in the least affected group. According to our results, there is no direct link between the perceived impact of crisis and the changes in operations strategies and practices.

Facets of operational performance in an emergency room (ER)

This paper, using detailed time measurements of patients complemented by interviews with hospital management and staff, examines three facets of an emergency room's (ER) operational performance: (1) effectiveness of the triage system in rationing patient treatment; (2) factors influencing ER's operational performance in general and the trade-offs in flow times, inventory levels (that is the number of patients waiting in the system), and resource utilization; (3) the impacts of potential process and staffing changes to improve the ER's performance. Specifically, the paper discusses four proposals for streamlining the patient flow: establishing designated tracks (fast track, diagnostic track), creating a holding area for certain type of patients, introducing a protocol that would reduce the load on physicians by allowing a registered nurse to order testing and treatment for some patients, and potentially and in the longer term, moving from non-ER specialist physicians to ER specialists. The paper's findings are based on analyzing the paths and flow times of close to two thousand patients in the emergency room of the Medical Center of Leeuwarden (MCL), The Netherlands. Using exploratory data analysis the paper presents generalizable findings about the impacts of various factors on ER's lead-time performance and shows how the proposals fit with well-documented process improvement theories. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An updated comprehensive techno-economic analysis of algae biodiesel

Algae biodiesel is a promising but expensive alternative fuel to petro-diesel. To overcome cost barriers, detailed cost analyses are needed. A decade-old cost analysis by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicated that the costs of algae biodiesel were in the range of $0.53–0.85/L (2012 USD values). However, the cost of land and transesterification were just roughly estimated. In this study, an updated comprehensive techno-economic analysis was conducted with optimized processes and improved cost estimations. Latest process improvement, quotes from vendors, government databases, and other relevant data sources were used to calculate the updated algal biodiesel costs, and the final costs of biodiesel are in the range of $0.42–0.97/L. Additional improvements on cost-effective biodiesel production around the globe to cultivate algae was also recommended. Overall, the calculated costs seem promising, suggesting that a single step biodiesel production process is close to commercial reality.

Continuation of Benchmark Project - Phase IV, 1999 Calendar Year, 2000

This is the final Report to the Iowa DOT Offices of Construction and the Highway Division for the calendar year 1999 research project entitled - Continuation of Benchmarking Project: Phase IV. This project continues efforts started in 1995 with the development of a performance measurement system. The performance measurements were used to identify areas that required improvement and process improvement teams (PITs) were launched to make recommendations for improvement. This report provides a brief historical background, documents Benchmark Steering Team Activities, describes measurement activities including the employee survey and collection of non-survey data. Then a retrospective of past PIT activities is given, which sets the stage for the substantial increase in PIT activity that occurred during the winter of 1998/9. Finally, the report closes with suggestions for future directions in Benchmarking Activity.

Lean universities.

This chapter examines lean implementation in higher education (HE) institutions. There is evidence of lean initiatives beginning in HE in the US in the early 2000s; there is also some evidence of business process improvement activity before this time (Moore et al., 2004; Waterbury et al., 2011). Today, many universities and other HE institutions are pursuing lean thinking.

Protocol to design techniques for implementing software development best practices

Software engineering best practices allow significantly improving the software development. However, the implementation of best practices requires skilled professionals, financial investment and technical support to facilitate implementation and achieve the respective improvement. In this paper we proposes a protocol to design techniques to implement best practices of software engineering. The protocol includes the identification and selection of process to improve, the study of standards and models, identification of best practices associated with the process and the possible implementation techniques. In addition, technical design activities are defined in order to create or adapt the techniques of implementing best practices for software development.

Mejoramiento de procesos de manufactura utilizando Kanban

Este artículo presenta la aplicación de la metodología Kanban y el análisis del efecto que puede generar en una empresa de fabricación de transformadores de distribución. Mediante la aplicación de la metodología propuesta es posible mejorar la programación de la producción, con el objetivo de reducir la cantidad de producto en proceso que no es utilizado, de forma que se reduzca el inventario. Para analizar el efecto de aplicar la metodología Kanban en la empresa, se utilizo la técnica de simulación, para lo cual se modelizan el proceso actual y el propuesto con las reglas de dicha metodología. A partir de los resultados que arrojan dichas modelizaciones, se observa que existe un mejoramiento en las líneas de producción cuando se utiliza la metodología Kanban.

Melhoria do sistema produtivo de escadotes da FUTE – Fábrica de Utilidade de Tubos, SA

Atualmente as empresas encontram-se perante uma sociedade cada vez mais competitiva e desenvolvida, sendo por isso, imperativo a procura da melhoria contínua como forma de assegurar a adaptação da organização empresarial às alterações socioeconómicas que possam surgir. Incutir esta cultura é fundamental dentro do meio empresarial. A redução dos custos e o aumento da produtividade são dois dos principais desafios que todas as empresas se confrontam diariamente, sendo para isso desenvolvidas e aplicadas várias metodologias. A presente dissertação foi realizada no âmbito do Mestrado em Engenharia Mecânica no ramo de Gestão Industrial no Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto. Este trabalho realizou-se no ambiente industrial da empresa Afer FUTE - Fábrica de Utilidades de Tubos, S.A, que é uma empresa dedicada, essencialmente à produção de Tábuas de Engomar e Escadotes. O objetivo deste projeto visava melhorar todo o sistema produtivo da secção dos Escadotes, englobando assim todos os procedimentos desde o momento de entrada dos materiais até à obtenção do produto acabado. Tendo em vista a resolução dos problemas inicialmente existentes na empresa, foram apresentadas propostas de melhoria do processo produtivo segundo uma visão, Lean Production ou seja baseada na eliminação de qualquer tipo de desperdícios. A implementação destas propostas permitiu a obtenção de resultados positivos no Sistema Produtivo de Escadotes, nomeadamente um aumento de produtividade em cerca de 40%.

Rediseño de productos: de los productos modularizados a la distribución de planta para una familia de productos

Esta investigación pretende evidenciar como el rediseño de un producto, específicamente el rediseño modular, puede generar cambios en la distribución de planta incrementando los niveles de producción de una empresa -- Dicho incremento se logró implementando una nueva metodología, que será ampliamente descrita en este trabajo, y que contempla todo el proceso del rediseño de productos, desde el desensamble hasta la distribución de la planta -- Para esta investigación se utilizaron herramientas conocidas como el Análisis Funcional, la Matriz de Interacción, El Diseño para el Ensamble (DFA), el Diagrama de Operaciones y algunos conceptos de la gestión de plataforma de un producto modular -- Como ejemplo ilustrativo, se rediseñaron dos productos ya existentes, una licuadora SAMURAI modelo FACICLIC negra y un procesador de alimentos HAMILTON BEACH modelo 70740, los cuales sirvieron de base para evidenciar cómo al transformar un producto en uno más modular se mejora significativamente la distribución de planta, logrando un incremento en la producción de éste, al tiempo que se reducen los tiempos de ensamble y se optimiza la disposición de los puestos de trabajo en la planta para conformar el producto final -- Para llevar a cabo esta investigación, fue indispensable crear una nueva ruta metodológica que nos permitiera rediseñar un producto inicial como un producto modularizado y terminar con el rediseño de la distribución de planta de una familia de productos modulares -- Esta nueva ruta metodológica, que hace parte de nuestros resultados de investigación, consta de tres fases -- La primera fase, se basa principalmente en modularizar cada uno de los productos que se quieren integrar dentro de la familia de productos, la segunda fase, logra identificar los módulos comunes entre los productos modularizados para generar la plataforma, y por último, la fase tres genera una nueva distribución de planta para el ensamble de la familia de productos generada -- Esta investigación constata, entre otras cosas, como el rediseño modular de productos es una herramienta fundamental en el planteamiento de una familia de productos en una empresa -- Partiendo de productos que ya pasaron por un proceso de modularización previo, se propuso una métrica que permite definir la similitud entre módulos, considerando la mayor cantidad de sus propiedades, la forma física y la función de cada uno de ellos, complementando así la metodología propuesta por Katja Hölttä en su tesis doctoral -- Finalmente se propuso una distribución de planta que permite un ensamble más eficiente tanto en tiempo como en número de operarios necesarios para la producción, incrementando así la versatilidad y las tasas de producción de la empresa

Development of business processes and sales reporting - Case recovered paper

The purpose of this research is to discover development points for business processes and sales reporting in the recovered paper sourcing organization. The processes under development are both sales and sourcing processes that were determined by the commissioning company. All of these processes have in common that there are used sales orders to organize the money flows correctly. Although the main objective is to source only recovered paper, the sourcing also brings by-products that cannot be utilized and are thus sold. As the purpose of the sales function is to only support the sourcing strategy, it should be organized as efficiently as possible. Investigating the current status of the processes and finding development points help in building proposals for enhanced process descriptions. In order that sales function could be analyzed, should the sales reporting be accurate and present the needed key figures. The current status of the processes as well as the possible problems and development ideas were researched with the help of interviews. Best practices could also be brought from other business lines in the commissioning company. The theory part was build according to relevant literature and scientific articles. The research indicates, that processes have shaped differently in sourcing organization’s business units. Local infrastructure and legislation sets certain limitations to the sourcing of recovered paper, and these circumstances cannot be changed. Customer-supplier power relations also affect to the formulation of business processes. In order to steer the processes, there has to be more internal controls. Still, the enterprise resource planning system also sets boundaries how the processes can be made more efficient.